Mark Zuckerberg visits his psychotherapist in this bizarre TV ad for WeChat

China-made messaging app WeChat wants to win over users around the world, and that means making TV adverts. The WeChat South Africa team has come out with a bizarre new ad that features Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg visiting his psychotherapist. Sorta.

In the ad (embedded below), the Zuckerberg doppelganger is on the therapist’s couch – in his favorite Adidas flip-flops – opining about how his online buddies are unfriending him. A stereotypically Teutonic therapist recommends Zuckerberg check out the ‘Friend Radar’ function on WeChat to find people he knows who use the messaging app.

WeChat has 355 million active users around the world, but it’s safe to say that most of those are in the greater China area. But the app’s maker, Tencent (HKG:0700), is still pushing hard to promote the app in countries with a lot of young, mobile-first consumers, such as in India, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa.

Facebook is way ahead with 1.27 billion monthly active users. And Facebook now owns WhatsApp, which has 500 million active users. But there’s still room for feature-heavy messaging apps like Line, WeChat, and Viber to compete with the more minimalist WhatsApp.

See: Want a photo app for selfies and showing off the stuff you own? China’s way ahead of you

(Hat-tip to @hannahkuchler for spotting this)